Greetings, dear colleagues,
Dear Yelena Leonidovna, Shalkar Amangossovich!
Today we celebrate an important event – KMF receives a license to carry out banking activities. This banking license is awarded as a result of a successful voluntary reorganization through conversion of KMF microfinance organization into a bank. After the license is awarded, KMF becomes the 23rd bank in Kazakhstan.
For nearly 30 years of its operation, KMF has turned into a reliable partner of small and medium-sized enterprises and today it is reaching a new level.
Small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of Kazakhstan's economic growth.
The head of state Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich Tokayev has repeatedly emphasized that support for small and medium-sized enterprises, especially in rural areas, must be the main priority of the country's economic policy.
Today, there are over 2.3 million small and medium-sized enterprises registered in Kazakhstan, employing more than 4.3 million people, this is more than 44% of the total economically active population. SMEs account for almost 38% of the country's GDP, and in some regions – over 50%.
Role of SMEs is especially great in rural areas. In small towns, villages and regional centers, it is small businesses that provide up to 70% of all jobs and are a key driver of the local economy and employment.
However, despite all their significance, entrepreneurs in rural areas more often run into challenges in accessing the financing compared to cities. According to the National Bank, the approval rate for small business loan applications is only 33%, while for medium-sized enterprises it is about 41%. Given that small businesses dominate in rural areas, this significantly reduces their access to financing.
In these conditions, microfinance organizations take on an important role, as they are ready to work where it is especially needed – in regions, in villages, with micro- and small businesses.
One of the recognized leaders in this niche is KMF, the largest microfinance organization in Kazakhstan, which has been operating for many years and purposefully supports entrepreneurs in rural areas. More than 50% of its clients are residents of rural areas, and in the Regions of Zhambyl, Turkestan and Kyzylorda, this share exceeds 70%.
In KMF portfolio, SMEs account for 94.6% of the loan portfolio. The agricultural sector accounts for 37% of all loans, provision of services – for 28% and trade sector – for 19%. KMF's client base today covers 275 thousand people throughout the country.
KMF ranks the 1st among microfinance organizations in Kazakhstan in terms of assets – 395 billion KZT. The loan portfolio is 315 billion KZT, demonstrating a 12.4% increase since the beginning of the year. Along with that, the portfolio of microloans to businesses expanded by 11.5%, and financing of individuals for entrepreneurial purposes soared threefold, to 172 billion KZT.
Meanwhile, KMF sticks to a conservative approach to risks: the level of overdue loans over 90 days is only 5.7%, which is below the average for the sector.
KMF's credit rating has been confirmed by Fitch Ratings at "B+" with a stable outlook, which reflects a sustainable business model and a high level of corporate governance.
To finance Kazakhstan’s businesses through stable and inexpensive sources of funding, KMF actively attracts foreign investment from major international organizations: EBRD, Asian Development Bank, International Finance Corporation, Japan International Cooperation Agency. From 2004 to 2025, total volume of foreign investment raised by KMF made 775 billion KZT.
The main shareholder of KMF is KMF-Demeu foundation (60.4%) created by the American international organization ACDI/VOCA, which has been implementing development programs in 148 countries since 1963.
Demeu foundation implements a wide range of social initiatives: grants and scholarships for students from rural areas, programs to support women's entrepreneurship, projects to develop infrastructure in rural areas, events to improve financial literacy and environmental initiatives in the agricultural sector.
As part of the financial and business literacy training for population of the country, more than 180 thousand people have completed projects of KMF and KMF-Demeu foundation, and 360 thousand people have been reached online. For its significant contribution to development of corporate social responsibility, in 2017 KMF received a social rating of "A" from the international agency Microfinanza Rating (MFR), and in 2019 – an increased rating of "AA-".
Understanding the importance of such players as KMF for lending to small and medium-sized enterprises, especially in regions, in 2022 the Agency provided large and financially stable microfinance organizations with the opportunity for transformation into full-fledged banks at the legislative level.
The transformation mechanism provides for a phased and structured conversion process designed for a period of up to one year. This approach allows microfinance organizations to smoothly adapt to new requirements and standards of banking activities – from upgrading their infrastructure and IT systems to restructuring their corporate governance and risk management processes, while continuing to operate as MFOs.
The first example of a successful transformation in 2025 was Commercial Bank BNK, which received a banking license on June 25 and has already started operating in the market.
Given the high level of equity capital, financial stability and full compliance with established requirements, on 20 March of this year the Agency issued official permission for voluntary reorganization of KMF through its conversion into a bank.
Over the following months, KMF implemented a set of measures subject to the approved plan: upgrade of the internal infrastructure, preparation of the premises of the future bank, implementation of modern information systems, including launch of automated banking solutions, as well as hiring and coordinating the management team with the Agency.
To date, KMF has ensured compliance with current regulatory requirements for the bank, developed internal documents on corporate governance and risk management, ensured connection to the national payment system and state databases, and received a bank identification code in the National Bank.
Based on results of the work done, on 30 July of this year, the Agency approved KMF's report on implementation of the conversion measures and on 1 August, state re-registration of the microfinance organization as a bank was carried out.
Today, we are officially handing over the banking license to KMF Bank, which will become the 23rd bank in Kazakhstan. Creation of the new bank is another step in development of the financial system and an important signal to the business community that access to banking services will expand.
KMF Bank plans to provide a broad range of basic banking services for individuals and legal entities: accepting deposits, opening and maintaining accounts, issuing bank loans, conducting cash and transfer transactions, exchanging foreign currency, providing bank guarantees. Such complex of services will cover needs of both individual clients and small and medium-sized enterprises, including in the agricultural sector.
We expect that appearance of KMF Bank on the market will become a powerful incentive for:
Dear friends, colleagues,
Starting from today, KMF Bank becomes a full-fledged participant in the banking system of Kazakhstan. We are confident that appearance of KMF Bank will give a powerful impetus to development of SMEs in rural areas.
On behalf of the Agency, I express my sincere gratitude to the KMF team, shareholders, consultants and everyone who participated in this process.
Congratulations on this important step. I wish you sustainable growth, innovative development and trust from customers!
Thank you for your attention.
RECEPTION SCHEDULE
by the management of the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Regulation and Development
of the Financial Market of Individuals and Representatives of Legal Entities for the In the third quarter of 2025
| Full name of the Agency's management | Position | Reception day | Time of the personal reception |
| ABYLKASYMOVA Madina Yerasylovna | Chairman of the Agency |
|
|
||||||
| ABDRAKHMANOV Nurlan Almasovich | First Deputy Chairman of the Agency |
|
|
||||||
| ABILKASSYMOV Timur Bokeikhanovich | Deputy Chairman of the Agency |
|
|
||||||
| KIZATOV Olzhas Tolegenovich | Deputy Chairman of the Agency |
|
|
||||||
| HADJIEVA Maria Jamalovna | Deputy Chairman of the Agency |
|
|
||||||
| ISMAGULOVA Zhazira Zhomartovna | Head of the Agency's Staff | First Friday of every month | from 11:00 to 12:00 |
Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) is an essential element of the state policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan aimed at ensuring the stability of the financial system, as well as public and national security. The legislative framework in this area is determined by the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated August 28, 2009 No. 191-IV "On Countering the Legalization (Laundering) of Proceeds from crime and the Financing of terrorism", along with other regulatory legal acts adopted in pursuance of its provisions.
Review of Applications of the Individuals and Legal Entities
in the Agency for regulation and development of the financial market of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Results of Consideration
there of in the 1 Quarter of 2025
| Document |
Total number of applications received |
Applications considered, including those put forward from previous reporting period |
Including |
Under consideration |
||
| Sustained, explanation provided | Rejected and terminated | re-directed to another organizations | ||||
| Applications of individuals and Applications of legal entities | 46 632 | 43 790 | 38 605 | 4 160 | 1 025 | 9 960 |
Review of Applications of the Individuals and Legal Entities
in the Agency for regulation and development of the financial market of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Results of Consideration
there of in the 2 Quarter of 2025
| Document |
Total number of applications received |
Applications considered, including those put forward from previous reporting period |
Including |
Under consideration |
||
| Sustained, explanation provided | Rejected and terminated | re-directed to another organizations | ||||
| Applications of individuals and Applications of legal entities | 48 075 | 58 089 | 51 905 | 4 400 | 1 784 | 7 138 |
RECEPTION SCHEDULE
by the management of the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Regulation and Development
of the Financial Market of Individuals and Representatives of Legal Entities for the In the second quarter of 2025
| Full name of the Agency's management | Position | Reception day | Time of the personal reception |
| ABYLKASYMOVA Madina Yerasylovna | Chairman of the Agency |
|
|
||||||
| ABDRAKHMANOV Nurlan Almasovich | First Deputy Chairman of the Agency |
|
|
||||||
| KIZATOV Olzhas Tolegenovich | Deputy Chairman of the Agency |
|
|
||||||
| HADJIEVA Maria Jamalovna | Deputy Chairman of the Agency |
|
|
||||||
| ISMAGULOVA Zhazira Zhomartovna | Head of the Agency's Staff | First Friday of every month | from 11:00 to 12:00 |